1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of LED light sources and in particular to sources which have an LED directly rearwardly into a reflector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years several patents have been issued and many products have entered the market utilizing an LED emitter with its roughly hemispherical radiation pattern facing ‘backwards’ into a concave reflector and the reflected energy returns back past the LED.
One example is shown by Zhang U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,785 that shows an LED suspended over a concave reflector by its leads. Another example is shown by Holder and Rhoads, U.S. Patent Application 20040155565, which is incorporated herein by reference. Holder and Rhoads shows a module with an LED suspended over a reflector on a heat sink.
Both of these examples have the same drawback in that the energy from the prime central rays of the LED is blocked from becoming part of the total beam of energy of the device by the LED and support structure itself. As the device gets smaller in relationship to the LED and structure, the inefficiencies get larger.
What is needed is an efficient means to extract the blocked energy from the central portion of the LED energy and merge it with the energy of the primary beam.